Our Town

IRINA RUDNITSKY, owner of CN BISTRO & DELI BY CAFFENATION on Valencia Road, has opened a new site in the Crossroads Festival shopping center at 4951 E. Grant Road, featuring cream cheeses and other menu items from old family recipes. CaffeNation was voted best coffee in Tucson in 2009… Read more »

DAVID A. RUBEN, M.D., MBA, a psychiatrist and pain management physician, is a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Arizona. His website is drrubenforussenate.com.… Read more »

Tucson natives REBECCA GOLD and SHANA CUTLER, who created the LoveJay Girls line of special occasion dresses for girls last year, have launched SAMMI & DAVID, a new casual clothing line for girls ages 7-12. More information is at sammiand david.com. The TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER has hired LIZ… Read more »

A book by MERYL HERSHEY BECK, “Stop Eating Your Heart Out: 21 Days to Freedom from Emotional Eating” will be published next month by Red Wheel/Weiser & Conari Press. Beck is a licensed clinical counselor in Tucson.… Read more »

Rutgers University Press has published “Gentile New York: The Images of Non-Jews among Jewish Immigrants” by GIL RIBAK. Ribak is the Schusterman Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Judaic Studies, University of Arizona.  More information and a 20 percent discount are available at http://judaic.arizona.edu/sites/judaic. ­arizona.edu/files/Ribak_author_flier.pdf.… Read more »

JANOS WILDER has been named a James Beard semi-finalist for Outstanding Chef: United States. The James Beard Foundation named Wilder as the top chef in the Southwest in 2000. Wilder is the chef of Janos, JBAR and Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails. DARRELL PATTON, assistant varsity coach at ST. GREGORY… Read more »

ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY has launched BackstageCoach, a transportation program to bring patrons from communities such as Vail and Saddlebrooke to select Saturday 4 p.m. performances. For more information, call the box office at 622-2823.… Read more »

Pima County Attorney BARBARA LAWALL will receive the Public Service Award at the American Jewish Committee’s Judge Learned Hand Awards luncheon on March 14 in Phoenix. She is being honored for her contributions to the advancement of equality and democratic principles through her work in the nonprofit and public… Read more »

FRAN KATZ, associate publisher of Tucson Lifestyle, will be honored by the American Advertising Federation Tucson at its ADDY awards dinner on Feb. 18 as the winner of the Phyllis Ehlinger Women of Excellence Award. The award recognizes women business owners or executives who have demonstrated success within their… Read more »

SHEILA WILENSKY has been named associate editor of the ARIZONA JEWISH POST. Wilensky, a former teacher and bookstore owner, has been assistant editor of the AJP for the past eight years. 1ST RATE 2ND HAND THRIFT STORE has given $100,000 back to the Jewish community since its inception in… Read more »

REBEKKAH DIAMOND, a science teacher at Canyon Del Oro High School, was chosen to participate in the National Science Teachers Association yearlong fellowship program. One of three teachers chosen from Arizona, Diamond will receive an NSTA membership package, online mentoring, the opportunity to participate in web-based professional development seminars… Read more »

ASHER SUSSER, former visiting scholar in modern Israel studies at the University of Arizona, has a new book, “Israel, Jordan, and Palestine: The Two-State Imperative,” which will be published this month by Crown Books/Brandeis University Press. DAVID MONTEFIORE has posted several YouTube videos in honor of Chanukah, featuring selections… Read more »

Congregation Chaverim has received a grant from Poets & Writers to fund writing workshops with Rabbi Stephanie Aaron and Deborah Mayaan at Chaverim, the Arizona Cancer Center and Casa de la Luz Hospice. The workshop schedule is available at chaverim.net or deborah mayaan.com. Mayaan was asked to write an… Read more »

Jeff Sambur, a retired firefighter, has published a book about his San Diego to Maine bicycle ride, “Destroying Demons on the Diagonal,” a lighthearted account that takes readers to the highest points in three states and 15 baseball stadiums, among other places. For more information, contact the author at … Read more »

PROJECT ISAIAH, the community-wide High Holidays food drive sponsored by the JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, collected 6,335 pounds of food and $3,824 for the Community Food Bank and Catalina Community Services. Every $1 collected buys $10 worth of food for the food… Read more »

BARBARA R. LEVY, ACFRE, has been named chair of the Ethics Committee of Association of Fundraising Professionals, which represents 30,000 individuals around the world. Levy currently serves as president of the Tucson Symphony Society Board of Trustees. She is principal in her firm, Organization & Fundraising Counsel, and has… Read more »

Tucson natives REBECCA GOLD (left in photo) and SHANA CUTLER have created LOVE JAY GIRLS, a collection of flower girl and special occasion dresses for girls sold through bridal boutiques and high-end children’s stores. Gold earned a bachelor’s degree in retailing and consumer sciences from the University of Arizona,… Read more »

Tucson resident JOHN NEWPORT, Ph.D., has written “The Tucson Tragedy: Lessons from the Senseless Shooting of Gabrielle Giffords” (Outskirts Press). RABBI STEPHANIE AARON of Congregation Chaverim, a longtime spiritual advisor and friend of Giffords, wrote the forward. Drawing on media accounts, the book summarizes the events and aftermath of… Read more »

THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA has promoted MARLYNE FREEDMAN to senior vice president. Freedman joined the Federation in 2002 as director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, after serving as executive director at Temple Chai in Phoenix. She became the Federation’s director of Women’s Philanthropy in 2004 and… Read more »

RABBI SHAFIR LOBB recently published High Holy Day prayer books for care facilities. The “To Life!” series includes Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and a combined edition.… Read more »